MTGinktober chips away at Day 21, "Drain," starring Blood Artist trying to paint a self portrait of his idealized form, Zulaport Cutthroat, but it comes out as a Thief of Hope!
Drain is my absolute favorite Magic mechanic, which I fell in love with with Thief of Hope, back in the day. I almost-literally always draft the set's drainer effect(s) whenever possible, I just love the inevitability of plinking away at someone and since it's life loss, and usually independent of combat damage, they are utterly powerless to stop the relentless sapping.
Fun Facts: I had a hunch and--upon researching for this piece--I confirmed, that Thief of Hope was indeed the original pure black expression of the "lose one, gain one" effect, and I fondly remember looping many, many a Hana Kami and Soulless Revival, hopefully while my thieves looked on. I still have that 80-card, rubberband-bound deck from my early Magic days gathering dust somewhere.
Anyway, for a "Drain"-themed illustration, I definitely wanted to salute all my favorite incarnations of this ability, though I did have to miss out on a couple honorable mentions: Servant of Tymaret and Palace Siege (ah, drafted so many of the former, and actually played the latter in Constructed! I remember having my opponent triple pinned once: dead on board to my Brutal Hordechief and associates triggering Da Chief, to my Crackling Doom in hand, and to my Siege's trigger, all queued up for the inescapable win on the last of our extra turns--what a feeling, while my opponent scrambled futilely to find a way out of the deathgrip!).
Easter Eggs: This is obviously a spoof of Norman Rockwell's famous self-portrait. But I have Blood Artist seeing an idealized version of himself (assuming Magic Vampires have reflections), a strapping and flexible Zulaport Cutthroat, but like any artist, he nevertheless despises himself and interprets/draws himself as a hideous monster.
But the illustration includes other clippings as references in the upper right corner of the canvas, so I went with other favorite drainers--the noted Brutal Hordechief I played in my Mardu Standard deck; Scholar of Athreos, which I drafted countless copies of; Drana's Emissary, an utter tank of a card that I always attempted to draft, but that was so powerful it was a hard card to come by (drain usually benefits from being undervalued at a table, but this 2/2 flyer with an automatic trigger that also paid off the incidental life-gain reward cards was a beater no one was passing if they could help it); and lastly Basilica Screecher, a representative of the exquisite extort ability from Orzhov, which I never really got to draft, but that I enjoyed sampling at the prerelease (I could only play preres back then).
Norman Rockwell's composition also calls for a helmet, a book, a bucket-like prop, as well as a bird for the crest above the mirror, so I went with Helm of Kaldra, Jayemdae Tome, Bronze Calendar, and the vulture from Isareth the Awakener. The Japanese in the book says ルーベンの テキストだ, which just means it's my text, and notably, I'm using the Mark Tedin OG JMD Tome--since this is an illustration about illustration, I thought it'd be neat to include wonderful Magic illustrators I've worked with in the past, so he and the Algenator got representatives here, though I guess I've worked with Donato, too, only less practically (to be fair he painted both Helms of Kaldra, so that checks out, too). Speaking of that very Voss, though, and in keeping with tradition, the little swooshy B (ß) is swooped into Blood Artist's trim, on the white part of his suit tails, not to mention a little spoof of Hannes's famously super sweepy signature. Anyway, the drink on the tome is blood, and the shield just below the vulture is a reference to the five-dot arrangement on the Magic cardback.
Not normal,
Reuxben
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